Been doing some research into growing swan plant (Gomphocarpus fruticosus) and found that strictly speaking it is a noxious weed here and shouldn’t be grown in the home garden! It’s native to South Africa, spreads like a weed here in South Australia, noxious because its sap is toxic. The purists won’t countenance growing it as butterfly food for the Monarch as this is a feral too! They insist we should not grow food for the foreigner at the expense of natives. Not very Christian if, like me, you extend care for others to the whole of creation.
The quote below is from one of my online resources. http://lepidoptera.butterflyhouse.com.au/plants/apoc/gomphocarpus-fruticosus.html
Sums it up nicely…
“Whilst neither Gomphocarpus fruticosus nor Danaus plexippus are natives to Australia, if that is going to be held against them then most of us are going to have to pack up and move out with them.”
A Traveller's Tales 